1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates in general to a magnetic transfer method of conjoining the magnetic layer of a magnetic transfer master medium, which has been formed in a pattern for transferring data to a magnetic recording medium, and the magnetic layer of a slave medium to form a conjoined body, and applying a transfer magnetic field to said conjoined body so as to magnetically transfer the data borne by the pattern of the magnetic layer of the master medium to the magnetic layer of the slave medium.
2. Description of the Related Art
Generally speaking, with regard to magnetic storage mediums, there is a demand for increased storage capacity and low cost. Further desired are so-called high-speed access mediums, which are capable of advantageously reading out the data of a desired location in a short time. Examples of these mediums include the high density magnetic recording mediums (magnetic disk mediums) utilized in hard disk apparatuses and floppy (R) disk apparatuses. So-called tracking servo technology, wherein the magnetic head accurately scans a narrow width track to achieve a high S/N ratio, plays a substantial role in attaining the high storage capacity thereof. A servo signal, address data signal, replay clock signal, etc., used for tracking within a certain interval occurring in one rotation of the disk are “preformatted”, that is, recorded on the disk in advance.
Magnetic transfer methods realizing accurate and efficient preformatting, wherein the data such as a servo signal or the like borne on a master medium is magnetically transferred therefrom to a magnetic recording medium, have been proposed in, for example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication Nos. 63(1988)-183623, 10(1998)-40544, and 10(1998)-269566.
According to these magnetic transfer technologies, a master medium having an uneven pattern corresponding to the data that is to be transferred to a slave medium (a magnetic recording medium) is prepared. By bringing this master medium brought into close contact with a slave medium to form a conjoined body, and applying a transfer magnetic field thereto, a magnetic pattern corresponding to the data (e.g., a servo signal) borne on the master medium is transferred to the slave medium. The preformatting can be performed without changing the relative positions of the master medium and the slave medium—that is, while the two media remain static. Therefore not only is it possible to perform an accurate recording of the preformat data, it becomes possible to advantageously do so in an extremely short time.
However, as to the magnetic recording medium, two possibilities are longitudinal magnetic recording mediums provided with a good magnetization axis in the longitudinal direction in relation to the surface of the magnetic layer thereof, and perpendicular magnetic recording mediums provided with an easy magnetization axis in the perpendicular direction in relation to the surface of the magnetic layer thereof; however, in current practice, longitudinal magnetic recording mediums are generally employed, and the magnetic transfer technology described above has also been developed focusing mainly on the longitudinal magnetic recording mediums as the magnetic recording medium of choice. On the other hand, if a perpendicular magnetic recording medium is employed, in comparison to the longitudinal magnetic recording mediums, an increase in data storage capacity can be expected.
For cases in which a magnetic transfer is performed on a perpendicular magnetic recording medium, a magnetic field must be applied in the perpendicular direction with respect to the surface of the magnetic layer thereof; wherein the optimal conditions differ with respect to cases in which a magnetic transfer is performed on a longitudinal magnetic recording medium.